Pundits and news reporters alike have labeled the recent presidential election as one of the most divisive in American history. People have proferred numerous reasons for this including but not limited to, lying, cheating, the news media, ignorance, inexperience, too much experience, racism, sexism, homophobia, criminal activity, the electoral college, pay for play and even the Russians. One can easily ascertain how divisive this election has been and continues to be, by merely perusing the widespread social media hostility and vitriol among those who are suppose to be "friends." The two major parties in our country seem to be diametrically opposed to each other and no longer willing to reach across the aisle and work together. The end result is that we now appear to be The Divided States of America, instead of The United States of America.

The basic tenets of conflict resolution suggests that if two parties are vehemently opposed to each other, their path to resolution should start by finding common ground. This begs the question, do Clinton and Trump supporters have anything in common? Both love our country and believe it is the best in the world, both want to live in freedom, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for our families and promote the general welfare of the people, just to name a few. Accordingly, at the very least it appears we can all find common ground in our constitution's preamble which is a good start.

If we focus more on what we have in common as opposed to our differences, we can all start to take responsibility and begin to heal our troubled nation. Perhaps Patrick Henry said it best in his last public speech in 1799, when he professed "Let us trust God, and our better judgment to set us right hereafter. United we stand, divided we fall. Let us not split into factions which must destroy that union upon which our existence hangs."

Whether or not your candidate won or lost, we must do our best to move forward together in order to safeguard that which we all hold most dear. At the very least we owe it to our children and all future generations, to try our best to work together and reach our common goals. It is time for our politicians to stop the blame game and get to work on uniting our 50 great states and all of their people.

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